The Canadian Rangers have completed a four-week long operation that provided crucial emergency help to a small, isolated First Nation in Northern Ontario during a major youth suicide crisis.

In an unprecedented move, the Canadian Army sent the Rangers, who are part-time army reservists, to the community to conduct night patrols and a range of day time activities for the community’s troubled youth.

Learning to drive an all-terrain vehicle safely is done at one of the most important training sites as well as one of the most popular at Camp Loon, an advanced training camp for Junior Canadian Rangers.

The camp, held in the bush north of Geraldton, provides eight days of training for the Junior Rangers, who are members of a national Canadian Army program for boys and girl aged 12 to 18 in remote and isolated communities in the North

The Junior Canadian Ranger patrol in Sandy Lake First Nation has been named the year’s best patrol in Ontario.

The cup honouring their achievement was presented to a small group of representative Junior Rangers from Sandy Lake while they are attending Camp Loon, an annual advanced training camp for Junior Rangers held in the bush north of Geraldton. They will take the cup home with them at the end of the camp.

In an unprecedented move, the Canadian Army has sent Canadian Rangers to a small, isolated First Nation in Northern Ontario to provide help in a suicide crisis.

“This is an immediate response to a crisis situation,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Richardson, commanding officer of the 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, which commands the Canadian Rangers, who are part-time reservists, in the Far North of Ontario.

A small group of Canadian Rangers are providing key assistance in the evacuation of Kashechewan First Nation, an isolated Cree community which faces potential flooding from the Albany River in Northern Ontario.

The team is made up of local Canadian Rangers from Kashechewan and Rangers from three other Northern Ontario First Nations – Constance Lake, Fort Albany, and Fort Hope.

A Canadian Ranger from Northern Ontario was a highlight of the observance of International Women’s Day at Canadian Forces Base Borden.

Master Corporal Florrie Sutherland, from Constance Lake First Nation, near Hearst, spoke to two groups during the military base’s observance. She spoke to the staff and students at the Canadian Forces Military Police Academy and to a second group which was open to anyone living or working at the base.

Canadian Rangers from four Cree First Nations on the James Bay coast have completed a complex search and rescue training exercise in which they impressed the general commanding the army in Ontario.

“There’s an understated confidence in how they move around,” said Brigadier-General Stephen Cadden, commander of 4th Canadian Division, who spent a day travelling by snowmobile with the Rangers. “How can you not be impressed by their abilities to operate in the North? I was very comfortable with their skill level and I am very thankful for what they do.”

Two Canadian Ranger search teams are credited with saving the life of a seriously injured man who crashed his snowmobile while driving in the dark on the winter road between Attawapiskat and Kashechewan.